How to drain down to remove towel rail AND valves?

[bureaucrazy]

Towel rail needs to be removed so that new flooring can fit over pipes. Therefore the whole thing needs to come off valves and all so that the pipe ends coming up from the floor are exposed. The bottom compression nut and olive can stay on each pipe as there will be big enough holes in the flooring to fit over the nuts.

Does the whole system need draining or is there a quicker way? Perhaps close all radiator valves except the downstairs one with the drain cock and the towel rail and then connect hose to drain cock and open vents on that rad and towel rail? Should it then be safe to remove the towel rail without water going everywhere?

 

[DuncanM]

Either full drain down as you will have open ends. Or freeze pipes and get it down quickly or put stop ends on. Would need to manually drain towel rad, then freeze. I would drain, top up with inhibitor.

 

[bureaucrazy]

Either full drain down as you will have open ends. Or freeze pipes and get it down quickly or put stop ends on. Would need to manually drain towel rad, then freeze. I would drain, top up with inhibitor.

Thanks. Is it possible to just drain upstairs and not drain the boiler or is there no way to know when to stop draining unless you empty the whole lot?

 

[DuncanM]

You could drain upstairs, yes. Just close off radiators downstairs when draining. Remember to add inhibitor again when topping up.

 

[Stigster]

Thanks. Is it possible to just drain upstairs and not drain the boiler or is there no way to know when to stop draining unless you empty the whole lot?

As Duncan says, you can just drain the top floor. You will need to drain as if you were going to empty the whole system but check after a few minutes draining if the water is escaping from the bottom nut of the valves on the radiator. You can undo it a bit, maybe have to wiggle the pipe a bit to break the seal and see if water escapes. When sure the water is below that point you can disconnect the towel rail.

You'll want to connect your hose to the drain point and get it flowing, then go shut off the cold inlet to the feed and expansion tank, if your system is open vented. If it's a sealed system verify the filling loop is closed or disconnected if it has a hose linking it up. You don't want the system filling whilst you are trying to empty it!

Once you've got water flowing from your hose, you'll need to go open radiator bleed valves. Take a rag and a radiator bleed key and open the bleed valve on the highest rad on the system. If water issues from the bleed vent, quickly close it and try again in a minute or two. Use your rag to catch any water when doing this.

Drain down all the top floor rads in this manner including your towel radiator. Remember to check the Towel radiator valves until you are certain there is no water there. Close the drain off hose. Go and close all your bleed vents - Don't leave them open! Then you can remove the towel rad.

It is possible to just drain the radiator and not the other radiators on the floor but if one valve does not close properly and lets by, it will cause problems so I would suggest draining that floor. Others may disagree but that's my advice.

Either do the work you need to do straight away, or cap off the open pipe ends. You can usually find a compression stop end that will work with the radiator valve nut and olive still on the pipe.

Recommission in the reverse order. Add some inhibitor into the towel rail before you refill the system. If you don't know how just ask.

 

[centralheatking]

Thanks. Is it possible to just drain upstairs and not drain the boiler or is there no way to know when to stop draining unless you empty the whole lot?

You know what unless it’s essential just leave it till the spring, draining down is part of the work but
I don’t know what boiler you have but modern ones are very tricky and do not always restart as you might expect and will put up all sorts of issues often leading to issues that take days to resolve. It’s not
Unknown for a drained down boiler to then need replacing. Which is why experienced engineers are very carefull about this sort of work. I will not name makes but everbody on here knows which ones
Centralheatking...a county south of Birmingham might assist

 

[Stigster]

You know what unless it’s essential just leave it till the spring, draining down is part of the work but
I don’t know what boiler you have but modern ones are very tricky and do not always restart as you might expect and will put up all sorts of issues often leading to issues that take days to resolve. It’s not
Unknown for a drained down boiler to then need replacing. Which is why experienced engineers are very carefull about this sort of work. I will not name makes but everbody on here knows which ones
Centralheatking...a county south of Birmingham might assist

He's not going to drain the boiler. Just the top floor. I think his chances of doing anything untoward to the boiler are extremely low to zero just doing that.

 

[New Gas Engineer]

If the valves need to come off then definitely drain down the full system.

 

[Chuck]

Most of the possibilities have been covered. I will add that, whatever method you use, avoid spilling any water when you attack the towel rail. You definitely don't want to put new flooring over an area that has recently been wet.